Lower Galilee Sights

Shopping Performing Arts

1. Arbel National Park and Nature Reserve

This 2,600-acre park sits on a plateau that slopes from the Arbel Valley to a towering cliff at the top of Mount Arbel, with panoramic views of the Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights, and Mount Hermon beyond. Ancient texts indicate that the Seleucid Greeks conquered the biblical-era Jews of Arbel while making their way to Jerusalem. Roman historian Flavius Josephus describes a battle here in 37 BC between the Jews and Marc Antony, who had been sent to suppress the Jewish rebellion. According to Josephus, the Jews were "lurking in caves... opening up onto mountain precipices that were inaccessible from any quarter except by torturous and narrow paths." Antony eventually crushed the rebels by lowering his soldiers into the caves from above. Today, hikers can take trails to that fortress of natural caves, and see other evidence of ancient settlements, including the ruins of an ancient synagogue.